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655-705 Level|   Comparisons|   Meaning/Logical Predication|   Parallelism|   Verb Tense/Form|                  
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 26 Nov 2021, 18:52
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained townships point out that dirt roads cost twice as much as maintaining paved roads.

A. dirt roads cost twice as much as maintaining paved roads Here, “dirt roads” is being compared to “maintaining paved roads.” Not parallel.

B. dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do Correct comparison

C. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads do Here, “maintaining dirt roads” is being compared to “paved roads.” Not parallel.

D. maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads Not clear what “it” refers to.

E. to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as for paved roads “to maintain dirt roads” is not parallel to “for paved roads.”


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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 11 Dec 2021, 06:28
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Hi is the subject-verb agreement okay in choice C,D,E ?

is maintaining dird roads singular ?
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 12 Dec 2021, 07:11
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shivambangia
Hi is the subject-verb agreement okay in choice C,D,E ?

is maintaining dird roads singular ?
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Hello shivambangia,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes; "maintaining dirt roads" is a singular phrase that refers to the action of performing maintenance on first roads. We can say that it is singular because it refers to only one particular action.

We hope this finds you well.
All the best!
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 11 Mar 2022, 08:34
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Hi experts,

One general question- Can a pronoun, for instance, 'it' can refer back to a gerund such as 'maintaining'. Is it grammatically correct?

Thanks
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 11 Mar 2022, 09:13
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ankitapugalia

One general question- Can a pronoun, for instance, 'it' can refer back to a gerund such as 'maintaining'. Is it grammatically correct?
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Of course yes Ankita.

An official example:

While recognizing that lying often facilitates social interactions, psychiatrists are seeking to determine when it becomes destructive and which kinds of mental problems it can signal.

"it" refers to the gerund "lying".
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 08 Jun 2022, 05:30
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Why can't "it" be a placeholder in option D - "maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads"

Also, I am a bit confused as to what would be the right way to say, according to GMAT - "maintaining paved roads cost X" OR "paved roads cost X to maintain"

To me, the former sounds clearer and correct hence I went with D. In the latter option (paved roads cost X to maintain), "paved roads" seem to be the doer which doesn't sound 100pc correct to me.

Can you please advise on this?
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 08 Jun 2022, 20:17
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glagad
Why can't "it" be a placeholder in option D - "maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads"

Also, I am a bit confused as to what would be the right way to say, according to GMAT - "maintaining paved roads cost X" OR "paved roads cost X to maintain"

To me, the former sounds clearer and correct hence I went with D. In the latter option (paved roads cost X to maintain), "paved roads" seem to be the doer which doesn't sound 100pc correct to me.

Can you please advise on this?
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Hi glagad,

A placeholder is not very important, in the sense that it doesn't do too much in terms of conveying meaning. Dummy pronouns are also not regular pronouns, in the sense that they don't have an antecedent. Here's an example:

1. It is possible that they will control the power of the atom. ← We need it because the sentence needs a subject, but the real information is on the right, in the that they will control the power of the atom clause.

In option D, the structure that we see, it does, uses it as an important part of the sentence. Look at it this way: if we assume that X is a noun, in "X runs as much as X can", we'd have no problem recognising that the second X is important, right? It's not there just for structural reasons. The only difference in option D is that instead of repeating X, the author uses a pronoun, it. Because this it is used to refer to maintaining dirt roads, it's a regular pronoun, not a dummy pronoun.
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 08 Jun 2022, 23:26
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No questions on the correct answer choice B. However, keeping in mind the acceptable structure, "X costs as much as Y", will the Option B still be correct WITHOUT "do" at the end? According to me, it is completely acceptable as "cost" is implied. However, need experts' view once.

Correct Option B:
dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do

Modified Option B (without "do"):
dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads
X= dirt roads
Y= paved roads
=> dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads [cost]
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 09 Jun 2022, 17:13
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Pankaj0901
No questions on the correct answer choice B. However, keeping in mind the acceptable structure, "X costs as much as Y", will the Option B still be correct WITHOUT "do" at the end? According to me, it is completely acceptable as "cost" is implied. However, need experts' view once.

Correct Option B:
dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do

Modified Option B (without "do"):
dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads
X= dirt roads
Y= paved roads
=> dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads [cost]
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One thing we say over and over again is that GMAT SC is not about labeling individual sentences as "correct" or "incorrect" in a bubble -- it's about comparing the five options and picking the best one. When you analyze modified answer choices, you're playing a completely different game -- one that usually isn't very productive. If you understand why (B) is the best option, then you've done your job.

That said, you could argue that the word "do" makes the meaning a bit more clear. To see why, first take a look at this sentence:

    "Maintaining the building as a tourist attraction will cost twice as much as managing it as a convention center."

The word "as" appears enough times to make my little brain cramp. The middle ones ("as much as") are clearly part of a comparison. But the first and last ones are a bit different -- they're telling us how the building will be maintained or managed.

Now look at a choice (B) without the "do":

    "Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained townships point out that dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads."

At first glance, the final "as" could function one of two ways:

    (1) as part of a comparison ("twice as much... as") OR
    (2) like the first and last appearances of "as" in the previous example (telling us how the dirt roads are being maintained).

Sure, the latter interpretation doesn't make much sense, and you can figure out the intended meaning pretty quickly. But having the "do" at the end helps the reader get there with less effort, and makes it a bit more clear that we're comparing (1) how much the dirt roads cost to maintain to (2) how much the paved roads cost to maintain.

In other words, the "do" leaves a little less room for misinterpretation, which means that it makes the meaning a bit more clear. Does that mean that (B) would be WRONG without the "do"? Probably not -- at least not wrong enough to eliminate right away. But luckily, the GMAT isn't asking us to make that call here. :)

I hope that helps!
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 10 Jun 2022, 00:01
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Wow, GMATNinja! The explanation couldn't have been better. :please:

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Pankaj0901
No questions on the correct answer choice B. However, keeping in mind the acceptable structure, "X costs as much as Y", will the Option B still be correct WITHOUT "do" at the end? According to me, it is completely acceptable as "cost" is implied. However, need experts' view once.

Correct Option B:
dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do

Modified Option B (without "do"):
dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads
X= dirt roads
Y= paved roads
=> dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads [cost]
One thing we say over and over again is that GMAT SC is not about labeling individual sentences as "correct" or "incorrect" in a bubble -- it's about comparing the five options and picking the best one. When you analyze modified answer choices, you're playing a completely different game -- one that usually isn't very productive. If you understand why (B) is the best option, then you've done your job.

That said, you could argue that the word "do" makes the meaning a bit more clear. To see why, first take a look at this sentence:

    "Maintaining the building as a tourist attraction will cost twice as much as managing it as a convention center."

The word "as" appears enough times to make my little brain cramp. The middle ones ("as much as") are clearly part of a comparison. But the first and last ones are a bit different -- they're telling us how the building will be maintained or managed.

Now look at a choice (B) without the "do":

    "Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained townships point out that dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads."

At first glance, the final "as" could function one of two ways:

    (1) as part of a comparison ("twice as much... as") OR
    (2) like the first and last appearances of "as" in the previous example (telling us how the dirt roads are being maintained).

Sure, the latter interpretation doesn't make much sense, and you can figure out the intended meaning pretty quickly. But having the "do" at the end helps the reader get there with less effort, and makes it a bit more clear that we're comparing (1) how much the dirt roads cost to maintain to (2) how much the paved roads cost to maintain.

In other words, the "do" leaves a little less room for misinterpretation, which means that it makes the meaning a bit more clear. Does that mean that (B) would be WRONG without the "do"? Probably not -- at least not wrong enough to eliminate right away. But luckily, the GMAT isn't asking us to make that call here. :)

I hope that helps!
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Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but fi 26 Nov 2024, 07:36
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